Waltham Abbey clock set to remember Rupert Brooke

A broken church clock stuck on 8.55 since the turn of the year will be re-set to honour a First Word War poet.

Waltham Abbey Church does not have the money to fix the clock, which dates back to the 1880s, but has decided to move the hands to mark 2.50 to reference a poem by Rupert Brooke.

The Old Vicarage was written in 1912, but the Brooke became known for his writings during the First World War.

The verse referred to is as follows:
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?

Brooke was killed, aged 27, during a mission in the Aegean Sea in 1915.

The people of Waltham Abbey have checked the time on the tower since the 1600s and the chimes every 15 minutes can no longer be heard since it stopped.

Clock makers Gillett and Johnston, formally Gillett and Co, made the clock and are advising the church on how to repair it.

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Church warden Richard Walters said: “We wanted to change the time to reference the poem and we thought it was appropriate seeing as this year marks 100 years since the start of the First World Rupert Brooke died in the war.”

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